National Assembly’s Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi and Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah disagreed on the floor of Parliament on the deployment of Kenyan police officers to Haiti. https://bit.ly/3QZsH0Q
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00:00 If it is the case that the request for the Kenyan government to deploy its police officers
00:07 to Haiti came from the UN, can we have a look at the UN Security Council resolution that
00:17 authorised this deployment?
00:20 Does it make mention of Kenya, even for a moment?
00:27 Does the UN Security Council resolution authorising this deployment make mention of Kenya?
00:32 It does not.
00:33 That is my submission.
00:35 And therefore we are basically getting into some kind of misadventure for reasons which
00:41 are not known to the rest of us.
00:44 The reasons could be known to a few people who are in the executive, but we want to tell
00:48 you that you cannot use our Kenyan...
00:50 No, no, please kindly give him another five minutes because he was interrupted severally.
01:00 You cannot use our police women and men as guinea pigs at the altar of rent-seeking.
01:10 Because we know for sure that the motivation for this misadventure is money.
01:16 Is money.
01:18 People want to use our helpless police officers as guinea pigs in their bid to get cheap money.
01:30 If you are sure that our Kenyan police officers are going to be safe in Haiti, first of all
01:37 start by taking there your child or brother or go there yourself.
01:44 Go there yourself.
01:47 And then they tell us, Madam Speaker, that you see the reason why Kenyan is leading this
01:52 mission is because Kenyan people have got the same skin complexion as the Haitians.
02:00 Are Kenyans the only black people in this part of the world?
02:05 Are we short of black people in that part of the world?
02:11 If you go to the Caribbean, the whole of South America, indeed even some parts of North America,
02:17 don't we have black people?
02:19 Are we the only black people in this world, us and Haitians?
02:25 What kind of nonsense is this?
02:30 Very parliamentary.
02:31 Because you cannot lead us to indulge in an illegality at the altar of rent-seeking.
02:39 And therefore with those very many remarks and to allow my colleagues to equally contribute,
02:44 I reject in total.
02:46 I reject in total this ill-advised motion.
02:52 This very ill-advised motion, I reject it in total.
02:55 And I want to appeal to my colleagues from both sides of the political divide to equally
03:00 reject this motion.
03:01 If only to save our country and the future of our children and our grandchildren.
03:09 Thank you, Madam Speaker.
03:10 Madam Speaker, allow me to first disabuse a lot of misinformation that has been given
03:15 by our colleague and my good friend, the Honorable Opeyo Wandai.
03:23 And I heard him, Madam Speaker, say that the UN Security Council Resolution 2699 of 2023,
03:31 that it does not even mention Kenya anywhere.
03:35 And I will draw him to page 23, actually the third page of the UN Security Council, and
03:47 he will notice that taking note of the call made by the government of Kenya on September
03:53 21, 2023, urging the United Nations to urgently deliver an appropriate framework to facilitate
03:59 the deployment of a multinational security support as part of a holistic response to
04:04 Haiti's challenges, calling on the Security Council.
04:08 And the whole document is replete with the mention of Kenya, even the Kenyan delegation
04:13 that visited Haiti to assess the situation in Haiti and report back to the Security Council.
04:19 Therefore, Honorable Speaker, let me first disabuse that notion that the UN Security
04:26 Council did not take cognizance of the role being taken by Kenya.
04:30 The issue, Honorable Speaker, is to note, and I think the Leader of Minority had not
04:34 read the committee's report that was tabled yesterday, because yesterday I was with the
04:37 Leader of Minority in Stony Avenue, deliberating on other matters of national importance, like
04:44 the cost of living, Honorable Speaker.
04:46 And therefore, he may have missed the tabling of the report, and because of the report here,
04:50 I will again share this report with the Leader of Minority.
04:56 Because Kenya is deploying our officers as part of this MSS team, the Multinational Security
05:06 Support Mission.
05:08 And Honorable Speaker, other countries, if you just go to the report, and I just want
05:12 to be very brief and draw reference to the report, that Kenya is a lead nation for the
05:20 MSS mission to Haiti, which includes -- because the Leader of Minority was asking emotionally,
05:28 "Are we the only Africans?
05:31 Are we the only black people, us, in Haiti?"
05:37 And this report that is before -- I'm sure it is in his office even, because his PA is
05:42 a very diligent officer -- says this mission includes Senegal.
05:49 Senegalese are Africans.
05:51 They are black people, like you and me.
05:54 Burundi.
05:55 Honorable Speaker, Chad is another African country that is in this mission.
06:01 Other partners in the Caribbean, the Americas, who are also of African descent and black
06:09 people.
06:10 Therefore, I just wanted, Honorable Speaker, to begin by disabusing that notion that it
06:14 is a Kenyan mission.
06:16 It is a multinational security support mission, which Kenya is honored to lead.
06:24 And as patriotic leaders, as Kenyan patriots, we cannot stand in our own National Assembly
06:35 and say that we are using our officers, who are very patriotic young men and women, who
06:45 have given their lives to protect life and property of Kenyans and people of the world
06:53 where they may be deployed.
06:56 And like the doctors affirm what they call -- what do you call it, Dr. Nyikawa?
07:03 The Hippocratic Oath or something, something close to that.
07:07 Our police officers and armed security men take an oath to defend life and to serve their
07:14 nation anywhere they may be deployed, including being deployed in the residence of our leaders
07:23 like Opeyo and I.
07:26 That officer guarding your house today and guarding your family is a patriotic young
07:31 man or young lady who has given his life to protect you and your family.
07:37 We therefore cannot disparage them by saying they are being used as guinea pigs.
07:43 They are doing their patriotic and national duty.
07:46 Thank you.
07:47 Thank you.
07:47 Thank you.
07:48 Thank you.
07:48 Thank you.